Dan Webber Kastner, the founder of the Moped Army and former owner of Rocket Star Cafe, is heading West early next month with his fiance and eyeing an expansion of his growing moped business, 1977 Mopeds.

On Aug. 3, Kastner said he plans to load up his 1983 Chevy van and make way to San Francisco where he'll eventually find a warehouse to host the mail-order portion of his moped business. Kastner said business has doubled each of the last two years, helping to open a Chicago moped shop, WarBux Moped, this spring, which is run by his business partner Pat Turner. (I recommend going to the WarBux MySpace page and checking out the moped rap video)

"I feel like I'm leaving at a high point," Kastner said while sitting outside his moped shop on North Kalamazoo Mall last week.

Membership in the Moped Army is up to 400 members and Kastner said it will be reviewing new chapters in Los Angeles, Virginia and South Dakota in the fall.
Kastner has sold Rocket Star, the on-campus coffee shop that hosts local art and occasional concerts, to Clay Emrick. 1977 Mopeds will be run by Andy Searle (of Gerudo fame) and Erin Matheson. The moped headquarters and rallies will still be held in Kalamazoo, Kastner said.

But Kastner won't be gone for long. He's returning in November to marry his fiance, Emily Hallman, at the Kalamazoo Institute of Arts.